Industrial Workers of the World

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), also known as the Wobblies, is an international labor union that was founded in 1906 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tied to socialist and anarchist labor movements, the IWW organized workers into unions and organized strikes during times of economic depression, fighting for workers' rights. During the 1920s, the IWW lost members due to the rise of the less-radical American Federation of Labor, and the First Red Scare and a 1924 schism led to the division of the party. By 2014, the union had just 3,020 members.